Congratulations to Vince Molinaro, our latest Board Access Program TM executive to newly appointed as board director for Procera Networks. Bringing nearly 30 years of executive experience and expertise in building commercial teams to serve tier-one customers and partners globally Vince will contribute in valuable ways to Procera's board.

Vince prepared himself carefully for board service by participating in our Board Access Program. We are confident he will be a successful and appreciated director.

If you aspire to serve on a board, contact us to learn more about how our Board Access Program can prepare you!

http://boardwise.biz/board-access.html

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Board Bona Fide Registry as a vetted, qualified director
candidate, for consideration by our corporate members,
seeking ideal fits for their boards. Log onto our site to learn more at baordwise.biz

Call us to learn more about our board
certification and current topics workshops available for your
boards upon reqest. 510-517-7791.

Looking for an Independent Board Evaluation?

Kevin R Brown

Chairperson – CareSource Management Group

“After several years of attempts to improve our “in-house” board evaluation process, we searched for a professional board evaluation firm. CareSource has grown quite rapidly from a midsize regional Medicaid HMO to a 2 million member, 5 state multi-billion dollar entity. We realized we needed a full evaluation of all aspects of our board/committee structure, multi-board organization and our overall board governance. After speaking with BoardWise and evaluating its well-established processes, and their extensive customer list, we decided to contract with Boardwise for a full board evaluation process. The entire experience was very positive. They are entirely professional, extremely well experienced and the process they use is substantive and sophisticated. The results brought to the Board and the CEO, proved extremely helpful and has set our Board on a course for significant improvement in multiple respects. Our overall governance has already improved with continued organizational and governance improvements in the near future.”

Contact us to learn about our Board Scan evaluation. A cost-effective means to evaluate your board performance on 22 dimensions, Board Scan allows you to both create "personal best" improvements and consider best practices by boards around the globe.

Global Trends in Governance

We are constantly on guard duty to stay abreast the trends in corporate governance around the globe.

No moss can grow under a director's feet if he or she is on the case.

Here are four to consider with your peers around the table. Are you ready? Prepared?

Stretching the Role of the Board

It is beginning to seem hard to know when governance responsibility ends. The stretching of expectations for accountability is becoming elastic. The oversite role of boards is growing to include investor engagement, succession planning for both the board and executives, brand reputation, and strategic planning.

Mush of the push comes from European companies which are defining constituencies to include not only shareholders and employees but stakeholders, unions, the community, the envirnoment and the international area.

The role of directors in strategic is under challenge. Traditionally, management defines the strategy and the board approves and monitors the performance against the plan. Executives are increasingly frustrated by the lack of contribution this provides for input from valuable directors' perspectives. Directors are frustrated because they often suffer from powerpoint mania rather than getting a better grip on the strategy.

Hence, the challenge now is for companies to get a stranglehold of something better "down the middle" that serves a better purpose.

Colleague Donley Townsend outlines the strategic capability of boards with this evolutionary diagram.

Where would you place your board today? If you are not where you wish to be, discuss what you can do.

Consider strategic offsites designed for directors and executives to explore longer term strategic thinking, scenario planning and possibilities which can then inform the actual strategic planning process.

Freshening Director "Social Biology"

The focus on mix continues to take varied shapes and approaches. Board composition gets a sharper look based on skills, knowledge, and competencies as a reason for director assignments tied to longer term views about the strategy of the business. Added to this now is a view about the board styles of directors, which contributes to overall effectiveness in group dynamics. In a peer-based leadership model of boards, this variable turns out to be highly correlated to positive performance.

Add to this the push for diversity. Gender diversity is the most considered, although our research shows a growing need to look at diversity related to orientation to problem-solving. The more diverse the thinking around the table, the better the quality of ideation and decision-making.

Long Haul Value Creation

Companies recognize the need for smarter means to create sustainable value. This is especially true in light of increases in shareholder activism and examples of companies that face the leadership dilemma of short-term priorities that may compromise interests for the long-term.

Skills for Social Media and Reputation Management

Witness the minutes it took for United stock to plummet after the video went viral showing how a customer was treated when he was unwilling to deplane on an overbooked flight.

If a skilled director had insisted on a communications playbook for the company to use in the face of any communication crisis that could run through solcial media as efficiently as is possible today, the deicisions to manage this would have been handled much differently and with fare less damange.

Is your board prepared with deep knowledge of social media and communications management?

Best Practices Advice

If your board seeks ways to address these -- and other challenges ahead -- feel free to contact us. We study and propose best practices and options for continued improvements.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Our annual Manage Your Board Potential Program at Harvard will be June 4-7, 2018

Join dedicated corporate directors from around the globe who come to explore and learn how best to address the new issues facing us in governance.

Test your skills in the global arena, where governance standards across regions create a powerful question: what can we say good governance means across boundaries?

Do you have a question about governance issues around the globe? Contact us for guidance! www.boardwise.biz or 510-517-7791.

This message was sent to donna.hamlin@hamlinharkins.com by donna.hamlin@hamlinharkins.com
425 Market Street, Suite 2200, San Francesco, CA 94105